


Girl Code

by Meatball42



Series: Rare Pairs [80]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Bonding, Dating, F/F, Iron Man 2 Compliant, Manicures & Pedicures, Secrets, Trans Female Character, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-03-30 02:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19032931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: “Secrets get heavy in our line of work. You can share this one with me.”





	Girl Code

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lets_call_me_Lily](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lets_call_me_Lily/gifts).



Towards the end of her time spent undercover as Tony Stark’s personal assistant, Natasha had an opportunity to search the private areas of Tony’s suite while the house AI was down for routine maintenance. There were four bedrooms on the ground floor, where Tony typically brought his overnight guests, but his actual rooms were normally closed to all but two people. Natasha would only have around thirty minutes to conduct her search without risking discovery.

She was a professional, though. It wouldn’t be a problem.

Natasha didn't look for anything in particular; that was an easy way to miss something unexpected. But Natasha found herself surprised anyway.

First of all, there wasn't any alcohol or other intoxicating substances, not even a wet bar like most of the guest rooms had.

Next, there were the unexpected finds. A mini-fridge next to Stark's bed full of green smoothies. A folder with several revised copies of a will. Another filled with drawings of Iron Man, done in crayon and marker and colored pencil. A surprising collection of Captain America memorabilia, hidden way back in a box in the bottom drawer of an unused desk.

Lastly, there were a lot of women’s accessories.

When Natasha found the shoes, expensive and flashy, she wondered whether Pepper had spent the night once or twice. But no, the unresolved sexual tension between that pair crackled like the two spokes of a taser.

There were designer dresses in the closet that wouldn’t fit a woman of Pepper’s stature. Maybe there had been a girlfriend who hadn’t made it into SHIELD’s files? Natasha inspected the dresses with an experienced eye and deduced that the girlfriend must have been around her own height, but much broader. Not Stark’s usual type; he generally preferred models.

When she made it to the bathroom, the number and type of cosmetic products confirmed that there was a woman who stayed over regularly. Natasha frowned, unhappy with the thought that her briefing had been incomplete. SHIELD had no idea that Stark had a girlfriend. Hell, Natasha hadn’t known, despite working closely with the man for several weeks. She would have to start giving him way more credit for keeping secrets.

And then she opened the medicine cabinet, and…

Among the usual collection of Tylenols and expired antibiotics, there were two shiny, unopened bottles with Stark’s name on them. One said Spironolactone, and the other was labelled Estradiol. Natasha memorized the names and put the bottles back, carefully turned to the same angle they’d been when she picked them up. She made sure everything in the suite was as it had been, and exited with two minutes to spare.

That night she looked up the medications. One was for suppressing testosterone. The other was a form of estrogen replacement.

She probably would have reported it to SHIELD. But the next day was Tony’s birthday party, and after all the excitement, there were more important things to be worrying about.

 

~ ~ ~

 

After the Avengers were formed, bad guys started coming out of the woodwork. Capitalizing on the good press of saving the world from the Chitauri, the Avengers settled into Stark Tower as the East Coast’s resident weird-stuff-combating team. Clint and Steve bonded quickly as soldiers. Thor and Bruce got along since Hulk had decided Thor was fun to beat up. As a group, they were comfortable. But Natasha worried.

The Avengers looked like it was going to be a long-term gig. Natasha knew just how much secrets could screw things up in fighting units; she’d used them to break up close-knit teams before. The Avengers were too important to let that happen.

Tony wasn’t good at keeping secrets. The one Natasha had discovered was going to come out sooner or later. And the fact that Natasha knew about his secret due to spying on him? That wouldn’t look good if it came out. Best to cut right to the center.

She spent a few weeks planning out different methods of bringing it up, of letting Tony know that she knew. Tony was hard to handle on a good day; this level of vulnerability would make him even more difficult to predict or control. She plotted out what she would say, where and when and what events or conversations she could set up in advance to shape the confrontation to her advantage.

In the end, she went with something simple.

She chose her time carefully: after a briefing in the Tower, she asked Tony to further explain one of the points he’d made, which kept him talking long enough for the others to clear out. As they left the conference room, she asked if he had any plans for the evening.

“Dinner, lab. Nothing pressing, gonna upgrade some mechanisms on the suit.”

“You want to hang out with me for a while?” she asked casually.

Tony hit the button to call the elevator and gave her a sidelong look. “Is this a spy thing? Am I supposed to ask for a code word?”

Natasha smiled mysteriously. “Guess you’ll have to find out.”

Tony got off at his own floor, still looking at her suspiciously, but an hour later he knocked on her door. Natasha let him in and led him to the living room, where she’d set up a manicure set on the coffee table.

Tony stopped short at the sight. “My safeword is gluten,” he blurted out.

Natasha looked over the array of implements and laughed. It did look sort of kinky, if you didn’t know what to expect. “We haven’t even gone on a date yet.”

“Haven’t we? Rooting out those AIM agents on Wall Street, that was just, what?”

“Avengers business.”

She sat on the couch while Tony continued his ramble. She intentionally left enough space for Tony to sit without being too close.

“What about that fundraiser on Long Island? And don’t say that was Avengers business, because I know that was one of your personal dresses, not one of SHIELD’s.”

“It was good press. And since when can you tell my dresses from SHIELD’s?”

Tony sputtered. Natasha crossed her legs on the couch and smiled impishly. She curled her finger and Tony finally sat down.

“Do you know how to do a manicure?” asked Natasha.

“This feels like a trick question.”

“It’s an important skill.”

“For spies?”

“For women.”

Tony froze in the middle of fiddling with a bottle of clear coat. “What are you talking about,” he asked after a long moment. He didn't get up and walk out, but he looked much warier than Natasha would have liked.

She shifted carefully in her seat, body language open. “Secrets get heavy in our line of work. You can share this one with me.” She picked up a nail file and twiddled it.

It took nearly a minute of Tony watching her, clearly running over options in his mind before he spoke. “What do you think you know?”

“Officially, I don’t know anything you don’t want me to. Unofficially… I want to show you how to do a manicure, if you don’t already know.”

“I’m not a heathen,” he shot back.

Natasha shrugged. “Then I want to do manicures with you. I may be a spy, but even I stand by the girl code.”

Tony snorted. But he also settled back into the couch, staring at the manicure set. When he picked up a cuticle clipper, he moved differently, to Natasha’s expert eye, almost like he had taken a deep breath and relaxed.

“I don’t know about your girl code, but I did tear a nail on a casing unit earlier today.”

“I can fix that,” Natasha said solemnly. She held up the file and reached for Tony’s hand. Tony let her take it, and when she smiled at him, he tentatively smiled back.

It was a good start.


End file.
